THIS YEAR'S PANEL of tasters included a wide range of beer enthusiasts, with varying taste preferences. All have spent a great deal of time as craft beer enthusiasts, in brewers' seminars at the Wine Exchange, and in previous tastings over the last six to seven years. Many are, or have been, homebrewers, and all are well-informed fans of the American craft-brewing renaissance.

Writer Tom Butler has written numerous articles on wine, beer, food, and travel for a variety of publications.

The ratings were based on a scale of 1-10, and the beers were tasted in flights of three and four in order to compare similar beers. You can read more extensive results of the tasting, as well as add comments of your own, by going to the tasting Web page.

The complete list of beers and their respective ratings (out of 10) includes: